Professional member of the National Speakers Assoc.

Professional Member of the Speakers Assoc. of Ohio

About Jon Petz

What happens when you combine a professional speaker, Las Vegas entertainer and corporate motivator?

Energy, Entertainment & Inspiration

Jon Petz has been called many things including: a motivational and inspirational speaker, author, keynote speaker, motivational entertainer, live event specialist, professional audience engager, corporate entertainer, corporate magician and humorist. His talents stem from his high energy and engaging personality mixed with his unique ability to creatively combine a business or inspirational message with an entertainment twist. His combination of real life stories and talent as an award winning comedy and magical entertainer bring a totally engaging experience. He has mastered the ability to entertain and educate while skillfully relating to every audience. His energy and approach is refreshing, exciting and encourages the audience to be actively engaged in the presentation.

He has addressed audiences or performed from such venues as the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Columbus Ohio’s Crew stadium, and entertained in Paris, London, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago and more for groups of 10 to over 25,000.

“Bore No More!”™ is his motto. His passion is to eliminate ineffective meetings as boring meetings suck the life out of an organization. Jon’s book “Boring Meetings Suck,”™ was released in March 2007. His first DVD, "Unlocking The Secrets", which teaches sleight-of-hand and sleight-of-mouth to business professionals, was published soon after. Coming in summer of 2008, Jon is a contributing author of "Best of the Best", based on the work and training on his “IT’S SHOWTIME!” philosophy.

In March 2008, Jon was selected to be a recurring guest host of a comedy game show in Las Vegas. The BONK Show™, which is part Jeopardy® and part Three Stooges®, begins in Fall of 2008 at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. He will also be making appearances as the host of the show at corporate and private events around the country as well at the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Columbus, Ohio which will be presented by PepsiCo®. Learn more at www.GetBonked.com.

As an energizing personality and live event and engagement expert, Jon is often asked to host, script and even produce some events and shows. This has opened doors for multiple television appearances (National: ESPN, The Food Network, Outdoor Channel, Lifetime. Regional: NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS) as well as being the spokesperson for several corporations. He has been the opening act or appeared with artists such as The American Idol Tour 2007, The American Idol Tour 2008, The Pointer Sisters, Tracy Lawrence, Charlie Daniels Band, KC & the Sunshine Band, Wynona Judd, Kenny Loggins, Peter Cetera, Diamond Rio and many others.

Background:

After graduating from Ohio University, Jon began his career as an inside sales rep in the software industry in Washington, DC & Tulsa, OK. A move to Columbus, Ohio in 1995 brought Jon to MCI Telecommunications. As a national account executive he became an MCI Master which is awarded to the top 2% of sales personnel in the world.

Jon continued to perform in his spare time and after several years at MCI he decided to pursue his other passion. For the next two years he traveled as a comedy magician and corporate entertainer while honing his skills as an entertainer and master communicator.

“Being able to relate to people, especially when you don’t speak their language, is a critical skill no matter what any of us do. This period of my career was an amazing experience and experiment in learning how to relate, communicate and deal with people from all over the world. I wish everyone could have such an opportunity. The world would be a better place due to our understanding of how others live.”

With the internet era booming Jon jumped into the entrepreneurial role starting his own online presence and shortly after joined a 15 person organization as a senior business development executive. This small organization grew to 1500 persons as Jon secured business with Ford Motor Company, Kodak, American Eagle Outfitters and K-Mart and others.

As the market slackened in 2000, Jon was presented with the opportunity to become the vice president of sales for a 250 member organization in the insurance industry. It was at this point that he began combining training messages with the entertainment component that was still occupying his spare time.

After two and a half years and having the sales team grow the revenue 60%, Jon decided to go back to his passion of inspiring others to take action by showing them that life is a magical endeavor that has no set path.

Philanthropy:

In 2002 Jon and wife Stacey began the Miracles & Magic program for children with life threatening illnesses, which seeks to provide the child and their family members a day away from the thoughts of hospital beds, treatments and shots. Instead, Miracles & Magic brings a Las Vegas style grand-illusion, comedy and magic show to Columbus Ohio each year, featuring the world’s best magical and variety entertainers. The children can share in the wonderment, laughter and magic that the show provides, forgetting their problems temporarily and just be a normal kid for that day. The program has enabled over 1500 children with a life threatening illness to share in this experience at no charge to them, and has grossed over $500,000 in sponsorship, donations, and public ticket sales which is provided to the Adventures For Wish Kids organization in Columbus, Ohio that provides ongoing group activities for these children. More information can be found at www.MiraclesAndMagic.com and www.AFWKids.org.

Services:

Jon Petz and his talented staff at Petz Productions LLC, keep up with the schedule and ever growing list of clients and services. Through the Petz Productions office our services now include:

presentation coaching, corporate entertainment, dynamic keynotes,
hosting / emcee services, tradeshow info-tainment, workshops,
event production, BONK Comedy Game Show, custom keynotes
multi-media talent & scripting.